Once a viral program gets started, there is nothing to stop it.
Richard Dawkins
Viral marketing is a powerful method that seeks to spread information about a product or service from person to person by word of mouth or sharing via the internet or email. – Investopedia
How to be viral? What makes a content more favorable than the others? Creating content that will go viral is a complex and challenging task. However, a good place to start is with Jonah Bergers six STEPPS
Let’s watch how Samsung A80 x BLACKPINK uses TikTok to advertise their product
This video has been viewed more than 44.3M times. Ever since then, users from TikTok has been remaking, dancing, and sharing this video. Currently it has more than 14.9B views worldwide. Samsung received 14.9B views for free! That’s crazy!
So, let’s see how many principles did Samsung used in their marketing campaign?
- Social Currency – Make your customer feel good and give them something to brag about.
Blackpink’s large fan base feel exclusive and awesome to be able to own a phone with their favorite K-POP idol in it.
2. Triggers – We share what’s at the top of our minds.
When people hear #danceawesome or Blackpink, they will
associate them with Samsung
3. Emotion – We share what we care about.
The dance video is clearly very catchy and entertaining,
netizens LOVED IT.
4. Public – We imitate what we see people around us doing.
Hundred thousands of TikTok users has been reposting and
remaking the video. At the same time, their followers
watched the video and follow them.
It is a big step for Samsung to use TikTok to advertise their brand new product, and it’s crazy how it spreads too! Kudos to the marketing team!
Are you the type of person that will follow a viral trend or avoid it? For me, I would always watch and laugh at the viral trends, but I have never tried it until this very recent moment.
I have been avoiding TikTok since 2017 and I cannot believe that I finally tried it in 2020. Why? Because everyone has been posting their TikTok videos on Instagram Stories and it caught my attention.
To end this week’s blog, here’s my first ever TikTok video with my dearest friends. It was really fun! TikTok combines dancing, music, funny filters and it has been spreading like a wildfire among younger audiences.
Nina's Digital Marketing Blog 
Nice content! I love the TIkTok videos of you and your friends! Do you think TikTok would be the next Instagram?
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Hi Weeling, thanks for reading my blog and watching my video! I think TikTok works differently from Instagram, it’s not about posting picture and daily activities. TikTok is more of a fun side of social media I think? Whereby people have fun by dancing and lip-syncing to songs. Therefore, I think it still couldn’t replace Instagram. On the other hand, I think TikTok will grow in the next few years. However, to sustain and thrive like Instagram? Maybe not so soon, but who knows right? Have a great dayy, Weeling!
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An interesting post! I enjoyed reading your blog on viral marketing. I love your examples, as well as the TikTok videos of you & your friends. I certainly agree that TikTok is an in-thing now and its going viral everywhere!
However, I’ve heard a lot about the consequences of failed viral campaigns. What do you think are the common pitfalls a marketer should avoid?
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Thank you, Xinrui! I do notice that there are a lot of TikTok videos these days, funny thing is that people are posting TikTok videos on Instagram!
I think some marketers will use inappropriate content to make their campaign goes viral, which I think it’s not a wise choice as it will ruin the company’s image. Overall I personally feel that as a marketer, we should be careful on the content we put out. Any small mistakes might have a chance to ruin the company’s image.
Thank you for reading my blog! Have a great day:)
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Nice video you have there! I really enjoyed reading your blog! I was thinking if TikTok was a good place to advertise brand that is perceived as reliable or rugged. Because you know most of the people in TikTok are just having fun and joking around.
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Hi Lina! Thanks for reading my blog, I really appreciate it.
After using TikTok for a few weeks, I realized that users don’t only post funny or exciting videos. Some of them post content like tutorials, tips, and some even teach people how to invest. So, even though it might seem that TikTok is only for users to have fun and laugh, I feel that marketer can freely advertise in TikTok as long as it is engaging and easy to understand. The key is to be short and sweet! Nobody likes long advertisement that’s annoying. Thank you for your comment, it really does make me think and research on TikTok’s users and their preferences. Have a great day ahead!
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Thanks for sharing! I receive great insight about STEPPS being important for a viral campaign. I know that we like to share videos, image or post about what makes us look good but are there other ways to leverage social currency?
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Hi Khng22! Thank you for reading my blog, I think social media is one of the great way indeed. However, I think that being active in real life, attending social events, charities are good too!
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Incredible to see how viral trends evolve over time, TikTok is like a perfect replacement after Vine disappeared. It is a full package; entertaining, hilarious and a good commercial platform.
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Hi Jack! Thank you for reading my post! Indeed TikTok has replaced Vine and it has gotten even bigger than Vine. It’s a nice place to relax and watch entertaining videos indeed, and now it’s a great place for brands to place their ads too!
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